The present invention relates to a portable perimeter defense system, a method of installing a portable perimeter defense system and a method of protecting an area for preventing unwanted intrusions by vehicles or other heavy and fast-moving objects into a protected area, and for providing protection from munitions so as to meet International Ballistic Standards.
Perimeter defense security systems that can stop unwanted intrusions by heavy, fast-moving objects into a protected space are, unfortunately, needed. For example, a heavy tonnage truck filled with explosives or assailants is an inexpensive but effective method used today by terrorists and insurgents to breach and attack a protected space, such as a military installation, embassy compound, or even domestic oil refineries. Moreover, it is also desirable that a perimeter defense system provide munitions protection for personnel, equipment, and/or facilities within the protected space, both as an everyday safeguard against stray munitions and when the barrier system is used in a tactical combat position. Conventional security systems employing conventional barriers are lacking in that they do not provide sufficient breach protection against a heavy and/or fast-moving vehicle nor do they provide sufficient protection from munitions, the impact from shrapnel or shells. In addition, prior art portable perimeter defense systems are not easily or rapidly deployable, are cumbersome to move around, and are difficult to install. Moreover, conventional security barriers do not provide alternative uses for changing conditions and/or security needs and to provide strategic deterrents by altering locations and configurations of a perimeter defense system.
For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2007/0272911 A1 (hereinafter the '911 application) discloses a markedly different barrier system. For example, the barrier system disclosed in the '911 application requires at least four people to install each barrier. Four people are required because the heavy, individual barriers according to the '911 application must be manually lifted to be positioned. The '911 application discloses interlocked adjacent barriers forming single rows of a desired length which may then be arranged in a “split V” configuration. The amount of physical exertion required to install the barrier system according to the '911 application is excessive and time consuming, which is disadvantageous in volatile environments wherein circumstances necessitate expedited installation of a defense system or wherein changing conditions warrant movement or other reconfiguration of a defense system. The '911 application does not provide a defense system with cooperating rows of barriers for increased strength and, due to its configuration, it is not modular and not capable of numerous configurations for changing threatening conditions and/or for alterations as part of a strategic deterrent system. Moreover, the barriers according to the '911 application do not provide the level of protection from munitions afforded by the portable perimeter defense system according to the present invention.